Issue 113

April 2014

After a torrid 2012 where he unsuccessfully challenged for the UFC’s interim bantamweight title against Renan Barao at UFC 149, Faber bounced back in 2013 with four wins on the trot starting with a scintillating submission sleeper-hold over Salvadorian veteran Ivan Menjivar at UFC 157. 

It took Faber less than one round to give fans across the world a snippet of what was to come for the rest of the year from ‘The California Kid.’

After Faber damaged ‘The Pride of El Salvador’ with his trademark razor-sharp elbows, Menjivar managed to get up from the bottom which signaled the beginning of the end for the bantamweight. Using Menjivar’s body as if it was a climbing frame in a playground, Faber clambered up his back, wrapped his legs around him like an anaconda trapping its prey and locked in the fight-ending rear naked choke submission.

The image of Faber with his hands raised, motioning to the crowd in celebration while still attached to Menjivar’s back epitomized just how dominating he was during the fight and indicated what a force he would become in 2013.